Former
prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today deflected claims that he lied
under oath about his ignorance of 'Project IC' and urged his critics to
instead question Anwar Ibrahim's silence about the matter when he was in
government.

Without naming Anwar, Mahathir said "a Pakatan
Rakyat leader" who served as his deputy prime minister had never
questioned him about 'Project IC', allegedly a clandestine scheme to
issue citizenship to Muslim migrants in Sabah to alter the state's voter
demographics.

Speaking to reporters after a function in Kuala
Lumpur today, Mahathir said that if 'Project IC' really took place
during his tenure as prime minister, Anwar could have stopped him.

“He
was in the government, he knew the government's policy. If that was the
government's policy, why didn’t he stop it?” he asked reporters after
attending the 30th anniversary luncheon of the Japanese Chambers of
Trade and Industry Malaysia (Jactim).

Asked whether he was referring to Anwar, Mahathir jokingly said "maybe".

Mahathir in his testimony before the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into Sabah's illegal immigrants yesterday said he was not aware of 'Project IC' and that overzealous civil servants were to blame for issuing citizenship documents to those not qualified.

Dr M's aides fingered

In
earlier testimonies, two of Mahathir's closest aides - Abdul Aziz
Shamsudin and Megat Junid Megat Ayub - were accused by former civil
servants having a role in 'Project IC'.

Aziz Shamsudin
was accused of hosting several National Registration Department staff
at his home in Kuala Lumpur during the early 1990s for the purpose
processing citizenship documents.

Former
Sabah NRD director Ramli Kamaruddin also testified that Megat Junid,
the then deputy home minister, had directed him to process documents
that would allow a group of people to vote.

In
turn, Mahathir testified that there was no government policy to grant
citizenship for those who were not qualified in Sabah and if it was
done, then "government officers" were to blame.- malaysiakini

Dr M must be very worried about what Anwar will tell Sabah RCI on Sept 18...

PKR leaders said they
were not surprised to hear that former prime minister Mahathir Mohmad
had tried to deflect blame for the notorious Project I.C. onto
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is due to take the stand at the
Sabah RCI on September 18.

"This is typical of Dr Mahathir A lot of insinuations that amount to
nothing. I think he must be very worried about what Anwar has to say and
is trying to preempt the fallout," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"But let's be patient and let Anwar clarify it himself when he testifies at the RCI next week."

Worried that Anwar will expose him?

Without naming Anwar, Mahathir said "a Pakatan Rakyat leader" who had
served as his deputy prime minister had never questioned him about
'Project IC'.

Mahathir, who had a day ago testified before the Sabah Royal
Commission of Inquiry on Illegal, appeared to be a bit more 'sensitive'
to criticism than his usual self.

His wholesale denials of not even knowing that there was a Project
I.C. "until recently" had drawn hoots of laughter and sarcasm around the
country.

Be that as it may, and perhaps to regain some composure, Mahathir
today urged his critics to question Anwar's silence over the matter
instead.

“He was in the government, he knew the government's policy. If that was the government's policy, why didn’t he stop it?” Malaysiakini reported Mahathir as telling reporters on Thursday.Asked whether he was referring to Anwar, Mahathir jokingly said "maybe".

Demographics and votes to cling to power

The Opposition chief has given his statement to RCI investigators who flew down to Kuala Lumpur to meet him last month.

He is due to attend the RCI hearing at the Kota Kinabalu High Court next Wednesday, the 18th.

In his statement to the RCI investigators, Anwar had named 3 people
he believed were the culprits behind the scheme, which he has described
as being "treasonous".

His lawyer, Latheefa Koya, declined to reveal the names of the 3
culprits identified by Anwar but it is believed the trio are Mahathir,
former deputy Home Minister Megat Junid and Mahathir's private secretary
Abdul Aziz Shamsudin.

Project I.C. or Project M (M for Mahathir) has been blamed by Sabahans for causing their abject economic and social conditions.

The project was alleged to have been a bid by top Umno leaders to
change Sabah's demographics by giving out citizenship to Muslim illegal
immigrants so that they would outnumber the mostly Christian locals.

Mahathir and his Umno party have also been accused of using Project
I.C. to offer citizenship to undeserving foreigners in exchange for
their agreeing to vote for the Umno-BN coalition during elections.-malaysian chronicle

Dalvik - There you have it, a leader who blames subordinate for not pointing out his fault. Please don't divert the attention Dr M, whoever did it, you failed as a leader to realize the change of demographic, and let it continue to change under your reign.

Pemerhati Bebas - Of course there was no government policy. Not official government policy anyway. If it was, they would have done it in one of the rooms in PMO. Instead it was done at the then PM's closest and aide's (Aziz Shamsudin) house. Don't need to be a rocket scientist to link the dots. Surely his trustest aide wouldn't be doing something treasonous behind the PM's back, would he? And since when can anyone stop Mahathir from doing anything that Mahathir wants to do when Mahathir was in office?

REAL TRUTH - Tun Mahathir Mohammad, you said you were not aware of any Project IC or Project M in Sabah. Now, you are asking why Anwar was silent and did not object to Project IC. Did you not know there is a contradiction. If there ,was no Project IC as you claim, then there is no cause for Anwar to stop it. And by inference you are admitting that you were aware of this massive fraud as as usual you are taking the malaysian Public for a jolly ride.

tholu - Your linking of Anwar in 'Project IC' clearly betrays your claim of ignorance in the Project. What is your intention and point of dragging Anwar into your unconvincing and unbelievable denial of any involvement in the project? If someone is accused of a committing a crime and is queried as to whether or not he did it, he simply has to say, "No. I didn't do it." He won't say "Why don't you ask my brother on his silence on the crime I had been accused of." This simply could only mean one thing - that that someone did indeed commit the crime but is offensive that no one is linking his innocent brother with the crime. Mahathir, your senility is beginning to show.

changeagent - Anwar didn't know abt Project IC because it was Dr M's secret project to win at all costs. This was carried out in somebody's private house and not officially in gov't dept. So Dr M, u r the person responsible.

Mr KJ John - Does it mean then you were lying? Otherwise, why did you way that even Tunku gave 1Million citizenship to Chinese and Indians?

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